GRETNA, La.--The Church of God Ministries International, based here, has launched a new program for preaching the gospel: a series of videos on DVDs featuring Bible studies and sermons on a variety of topics.

In the ministry's promotional materials, Mr. Kerry compares the series with the old Ambassador College Bible Correspondence Course of many years ago produced by the Worldwide Church of God.

"That tool was the single most effective instrument the church ever had to convey biblical truths," he said.

The package the ministry sends to subscribers, at no charge, includes DVDs with full audio and video as well as four pages of printed lessons and a "work sheet."

"The studies are brief but concise," Mr. Kerry said. "They explain the significant points of the sermon, yet are small enough not to overwhelm the potential convert."

Speaking of converts, Mr. Kerry mentioned that he reads in the Bible the necessity not only of preaching but of "making converts."

"That is what this new Bible-study-sermon program is designed to do."

Mr. Kerry thinks the new materials might be attractive to families and individual church members who do not regularly meet with groups on the Sabbath.

Even if they do regularly meet with other people, "most members are only together for a few hours at a time on the Sabbath. By being able to stop and pick up again at a later time, groups won't feel compelled to try to complete the study in one sitting."

In a statement to The Journal, Mr. Kerry said he believes Church of God members will appreciate the studies.

"Of course I'm prejudiced," he said, "because we are producing it. But each time I do them [produce the studies] people tell me how much more they understand by viewing the messages."

Plans are for Mr. Kerry and the CGMI to produce six to eight new audio-video Bible-study sermons each year.

"Eventually the goal is one per month," he said, "but that is a little unrealistic at this point because of our size."

Mr. Kerry invites other Church of God ministries and individuals to cooperate with him and his ministry in producing three- to five-minute animated videos that Internet users can easily E-mail to their friends.

"People can write up their ideas and send them to us, then we'll put them in graphic form," he said. "That kind of thing is the rage on the Internet right now. We can do this with Bible topics like the many short videos--many of which are just jokes--that are being sent around on the Internet. They can be a good way to introduce people to the Bible.

"Our goal is to try to get people into the Bible again. We can tell the stories from Scripture with pictures, animation and music."